It wasn't a shot at my northern neighbors, believe me. You'd have to know the history of the Toronto Blue Jays' GM, J.P. Ricciardi and the comments he made on his radio show last month regarding Adam Dunn. Toronto is likely the last place Dunn would ever go.
A fan calls up and asks Ricciardi whether the Jays have interest in Dunn. Ricciardi replies that he's not interested in Dunn. Ricciardi says:
"Maybe we have more information and know the player a little more than the average fan."
Next call, another fan calls up and says he's surprised Ricciardi would be so quick to dismiss a power bat like Dunn. Ricciardi really goes off on Dunn this time:
"He's a lifetime .230-.240 hitter that strikes out a ton and hits home runs. Did you know the guy doesn't really like baseball that much? Did you know the guy doesn't have a passion to play the game that much? I don't think you'd be very happy if we brought Adam Dunn here...We've done our homework on guys like Adam Dunn and there's a reason why we don't want Adam Dunn."
The next day Ricciardi issued a public apology. Dunn took the olive branch offered by Ricciardi and promptly snapped it over his knee and tossed it back.
Dunn:
"'Sorry' doesn't always fix things. To me, you're not criticizing me as a player. You're criticizing me as a person. That's different. You can say I stink all you want, OK, I'm fine with that. It's over. I'm not crying about it. It doesn't really mean that much."
"I really don’t care what one guy thinks, to be honest with you. He felt like he needed to say it for some reason, I have no idea why and I don’t care. He could be in this clubhouse right now, I wouldn’t know. I couldn’t tell you his name, what he looks like – he’s got a big mouth, that’s all I know about him.
"It’s just some clown sitting in a front office pushing paper. I don’t play for any other reason than the guys here. I’ve said it all along, it doesn’t bother me what people say or think, especially someone outside of the organization who has no idea of anything that goes on here. He’s not even in our country. This guy’s in another country talking ****."
A day later... J.P. Ricciardi said his feud with Reds left fielder Adam Dunn was finally settled via a phone call between the two over the weekend.
"I talked to Adam on Saturday, so I see it as a dead issue," Ricciardi told a group of reporters. "He called me. I tried to get his phone and I wasn't having any luck. He had called me. I told him I made a mistake and apologized. I let my guard down, which I shouldn't have done, but I did. All I can do is apologize."
Not so, says Adam Dunn. Dunn was emphatic that he never called Ricciardi and that the two haven't spoken. "What? Not true. One million percent," Dunn told MLB.com after being informed of Ricciardi's comments. "I wouldn't call him under any circumsrtances. Certainly not to troll for an apology from him."
When told of what Dunn said, Ricciardi was adamant that he spoke to the player on the phone.
"All I know is the person I talked to said it was Adam Dunn," Ricciardi said. "That's quite a prank to pull."
Ricciardi said he deleted the caller's number from his cell phone.
Baseball is a funny game.
